Network Working Group J. Kempf, Ed.
Request for Comments: 4831 DoCoMo USA Labs
Category: Informational April 2007
Goals for Network-Based Localized Mobility Management (NETLMM)
Status of This Memo
This memo provides information for the Internet community. It does
not specify an Internet standard of any kind. Distribution of this
memo is unlimited.
Copyright Notice
Copyright (C) The IETF Trust (2007).
Abstract
In this document, design goals for a network-based localized mobility
management (NETLMM) protocol are discussed.
Table of Contents
1. Introduction ....................................................2
1.1. Terminology ................................................2
2. NETLMM Functional Architecture ..................................3
3. Goals for the NETLMM Protocol ...................................3
3.1. Goal 1: Handover Performance Improvement ...................4
3.2. Goal 2: Reduction in Handover-Related Signaling Volume .....5
3.3. Goal 3: Location Privacy ...................................6
3.4. Goal 4: Limit Overhead in the Network ......................7
3.5. Goal 5: Simplify Mobile Node Mobility Management
Security by Deriving from IP Network Access and/or IP
Movement Detection Security ................................7
3.6. Goal 6: Link Technology Agnostic ...........................8
3.7. Goal 7: Support for Unmodified Mobile Nodes ................8
3.8. Goal 8: Support for IPv4 and IPv6 ..........................9
3.9. Goal 9: Reuse of Existing Protocols Where Sensible ........10
3.10. Goal 10: Localized Mobility Management
Independent of Global Mobility Management ................10
3.11. Goal 11: Configurable Data Plane Forwarding
between Local Mobility Anchor and Mobile Access Gateway ..11
4. Security Considerations ........................................11
5. Acknowledgements ...............................................11
6. Normative References ...........................................12
7. Informative References .........................................12
8. Contributors ...................................................13
Kempf Informational [Page 1]RFC 4831 NETLMM Goals April 20071. Introduction
In [1], the basic problems that occur when a global mobility protocol
is used for managing local mobility are described, and two currently
used approaches to localized mobility management -- the host-based
approach that is used by most IETF protocols, and the proprietary
Wireless LAN (WLAN) switch approach used between WLAN switches in
different subnets -- are examined. The conclusion from the problem
statement document is that none of the approaches has a complete
solution to the problem. While the WLAN switch approach is most
convenient for network operators and users because it requires no
software on the mobile node other than the standard drivers for WiFi,
the proprietary nature limits interoperability, and the restriction
to a single last-hop link type and wired backhaul link type restricts
scalability. The IETF host-based protocols require host software
stack changes that may not be compatible with all global mobility
protocols. They also require specialized and complex security
transactions with the network that may limit deployability. The
conclusion is that a localized mobility management protocol that is
network based and requires no software on the host for localized
mobility management is desirable.
This document develops a brief functional architecture and detailed
goals for a network-based localized mobility management protocol
(NETLMM). Section 2 describes the functional architecture of NETLMM.
In Section 3, a list of goals that is desirable in the NETLMM
protocol is presented. Section 4 briefly outlines Security
Considerations. More discussion of security can be found in the
threat analysis document [2].
1.1. Terminology
Mobility terminology in this document follows that in RFC 3753 [10]
and in [1]. In addition, the following terms are related to the
functional architecture described in Section 2:
Localized Mobility Management Domain
An Access Network in the sense defined in [1] in which mobility is
handled by the NETLMM protocol.
Mobile Access Gateway
A Mobile Access Gateway (MAG) is a functional network element that
terminates a specific edge link and tracks mobile node IP-level